Winter 2010 - Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta

Winter 2010
OF TREATY 8’S CHILDREN’S AGENDA
Dene Tha’ First Nation now has it’s very own youth
council. After holding a series of gatherings to inform
the community about the group, the council held it’s very
first meeting in Bushe River on November 18th, 2009.
The Council has decided to call itself Yideh Medihi
Youth Council, which is Dene for “Future Leaders”.
The council has been supported by BCR and is now in the
process of applying for non-profit status so they will be
able to access funding. This will allow the council to provide
recreational services to the young people of Dene
Tha’.
The Youth Council has identified a number of goals
including: strengthening Aboriginal pride, reconnecting
Youth with Elders, and building future leaders.
Children’s Agenda would like to thank the following
for their extraordinary contributions to our program
CPAC Committee
Health Commission
Elder’s Council
Dene Tha’ First
Nation
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation
Lesser Slave Lake
Indian
Regional Council
Elder Rita Auger
Elder Doris Courtorielle
All of our past and present
staff, especially our Best
Practice
Site Workers
Chief James Ahnassay
Chief Richard Kappo
Chief Rose Laboucan
Wilfred Hooka-Nooza
Donna Semantha
Allen Willier
Alfred Goodswimmer
Chief Arthur Noskey
Anyone and everyone who
supported our program, our
most sincere thanks
The council is still looking for responsible youth to join
their team. For more information or to sign up, contact
Dustin Ahnassay @ 780.841.6041.

THE TIMES
With our current funding set to expire on March
31st, The Children’s Agenda team is working with
our Chiefs and partners to determine the future of
the program.
“There is a desire to continue our work,” said Ann
Nipshank, “we are currently working on
determining what the future work will look like and
then obtaining the funding to do it.”
One thing that will be on the future workplan is a
complete evaluation of the framework as well as
publishing that framework for all Treaty 8 First
Nations of Alberta to have.
“We are very proud of the work that everyone involved
with Children’s Agenda has done since 2003,” said Nipshank.
Those contributors include Grand Chiefs, Chiefs, Elders,
staff members, and Nation members.
“We want to make sure that we continue our important
work in their honour and for the benefit of all our Treaty 8
communities.” said Nipshank.
Some of the brightest minds among Alberta healthcare
providers are partnering with Children’s Agenda in working to
remove the barriers that on-reserve families face when trying to
access services for their special needs children.
The Stollery Children’s Hospital, Alberta Health Services, and
Health Canada are just a few of the organizations that sent
representatives to attend a one-day working session hosted by
Treaty 8 Children’s Agenda.
“From this session we intend to establish a working table with
these partners. Together we can start improving the quality of
care for our members, despite our jurisdictional challenges.”
stated Children’s Agenda Manager Ann Nipshank.
The initiative is based on Jordan’s Principle which states that First
Nations children receive quality healthcare without delay because
of different governments disputing who should pay the bill.
“We hope to have this working group up and
running soon so we can start making a positive
difference.” Nipshank said. “Thanks to all of
our partners for their ongoing contributions to
this very important initiative.”

THE TIMES
Children’s Agenda is honoured to announce the
appointment of Elder Doris Courorielle to our
program.
“It’s vital for our program to have strong
leadership and guidance from our Elders,” said
Children’s Agenda Manager Ann Nipshank. “We
believe that Elder Doris, along with Elder Rita
Auger, will do great in providing that wisdom.”
Elder Courorielle is a member of the Swan River
First Nation.
From his seat on Council to his new role as Best
Practice Technician with Children’s Agenda,
contributing to his Nation is nothing new for
Kevin Ahkimnachie.
Ahkimnachie has joined our team on a contract
basis as of January 2010. His primary role is to
assist his community, Dene Tha’ First Nation,
in testing the Intake Referral Process.
Ahkimnachie is fluent in the Dene Tha’
language, and can be reached at
kahkimnachie@treaty8.ca.
On Feb 22nd and 23rd
Children’s Agenda Staff visited the 3
communities of Dene Tha’ (Chateh,
Bushe River,
Meander River), bringing
information about the impending
Intake Referral Process
Testing. Testing takes place
March 1st—31st in all 3 Dene Tha’
communities.
Community members who attended
the meetings received information
about what their Nation and
Children’s Agenda is doing to improve
service delivery to Dene Tha’
families.
“Overall the reaction to Intake testing
was very positive.” said Kevin
Ahkimnachie, who
delivered the presentations in both
Dene and English.
A presentation on the Yideh
Medihi Youth Council was also
given.
If you missed the presentations and
would like copies please email Sean
Amato at samato@treaty8.ca

Answers: 1(b), 2(c), 3(d), 4(c),
5(a), 6(d)
1)About how many First
Nations live in Canada?
A) 1.2 million
B) 690,000
C) 500,000
D) 99,000
2)Who is the current
Grand Chief of T8FNA?
A) Chief Rose
Laboucan
B) Chief Phil Fontaine
C) Chief Allan Adam
D) Chief Arthur
Noskey
3)What does CPAC stand
for?
A) Christmas Presents And
Coffee-tables
B) Child Parent Advice
Council
C) Children’s Programming
Advisory Council
D) Children’s Program
Advisory Committee
4)Which Nation has not
been a C.A. test site?
A) Dene Tha’ FN
B) LSLIRC
C) Beaver FN
D) Woodland FN
5)When was C.A. added
to the Treaty 8 webpage?
A) 2009
B) 2003
C) 2008
D) C.A. has no webpage
6)What is T8FNA’s
website address
A) www.T8FNA.ca
B) www.treaty8.com
C) www.treatyeight.org
D) www.treaty8.ca
Children’s Agenda would like to thank our Best Practice Sites for
all of their hard-work and dedication over the past few years.
On February 17th at a Chiefs and Elders Gathering in Slave Lake
Chief Arthur Noskey formally honoured our sites. Representatives
from Dene Tha’ First Nation, Lesser Slave Lake Indian Regional
Council, and Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation were presented with gifts
of appreciation (photos above). The three sites will come to a close
at the end of March, but their contributions will not be forgotten.
ANN NIPSHANK
MANAGER, CHILDREN’S AGENDA
MINA PATEL
RESEARCH COORDINATOR
SEAN AMATO
COMMUNICATIONS LIAISON
KEVIN AHKIMNACHIE
BEST PRACTICE SITE
TECHNICIAN (ON-CONTRACT)
GENNY SEMANTHA
BEST PRACTICE SITE WORKER, DENE THA’
DUSTIN AHNASSAY
YOUTH COUNCIL WORKER, DENE THA’
BEATRICE THUNDER
BEST PRACTICE SITE WORKER, LSLIRC
SHANE SOTO
BEST PRACTICE SITE WORKER, STURGEON LAKE